Sound effects come from a vast array of sources, and at Sony Pictures Entertainment, all sound effects eventually live in the same place. SPE’s state-of-the-art digital sound effects library is hosted on an Apple X-Serve, with 2.5 terabytes of storage space – that’s more digital space than you can fathom. Using simple interface software, up to 100 sound editors, designers and supervisors can access the library’s 100,000 sound effects at one time. There is also ample room on the server for movies and TV shows in the post-production phase to store their work, so a show’s sound staff can access each other’s reels with the click of a mouse, without moving hard drives or staff from room to room. With this kind of technology, SPE’s post-production sound team remains well ahead of the digital curve.

Where does this vast collection of sound effects come from? Any sound effects used or created for SPE’s movies are mastered and stored in the library. Besides transferring pre-existing CD libraries of sound effects to the digital library, the effects come from one of three places.